More details, pictures and a schedule will be available very soon, but until then A huge congratulations to all of the selected films.
Finalists
She’s The Protagonist
Sarah Carlot Jaber – Belgium – 00:14:01Fiction
The Protagonist, by her given name, is presented to us in her natural environment : a jungle, sadly, often lacking in density. But today enough is enough! Being the mother, the secretary, the lover, the nanny, the baby bottle, the side piece of the main male character is no longer enough for our dear Protagonist ! Put on “mute” after the allocated time for female* characters in a film was reached, she runs away with her friend Voice-Over for a new journey with plenty of humor.
Now!
Betsy Stern – United States – 00:01:04Documentary
Now! is a video I made about the end of the era of the car. This video is as abrupt as the undeniable evidence of Climate Change. When I was a very young child, my mom spent years fighting to protect us from what she and others knew for fact was coming with the environment, and those changes have now arrived. I hear her still in my memory talking about how we got here. But where are we going now and how are we going to get there?
MATKA / POLKA [MOTHER / POLE]
Joanna Suchomska – Poland – 00:14:45Documentary
MATKA / POLKA [MOTHER / POLE] is a meditation on what it means to be a woman in today’s Polish society. As a collection of stories – all verbatim – from waiting rooms, gynaecology chairs, abortion clinics, and bedrooms, the documentary bears witness to everyday acts of patriarchy and systemic violence. Adopting a poetic visual language, MATKA / POLKA breaks the taboo around the experiences, emotions and identity of Polish women who have faced the country’s strict reproductive policy and social prejudices to make decisions about their own life and body.
an entombing(dis)entombing
Adam E. Stone – United States – 00:01:00Fiction
A one-minute poem film about building barriers vs. living with a heart full of love, filmed predominantly with an iPhone 5c, between 2015 and 2019, in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. In addition to the H.264 version that is available for download from Vimeo as a .mov or mp4, the following options are available on request: srt file for this version (text srt file may be downloaded from this page) H.264 version with burned in subtitles (.mov or mp4) Apple ProRes 422 version with srt file (825 mb) Apple ProRes 422 version with burned in subtitles (832 mb) Text of poem: I knew a man who built a coffin for himself when he was young he hoped that he would never need it but kept it spotless just in case and when he’d argued his lover out of her reason and argued himself out of all hope he climbed into it and slammed the lid only to live many more years cobwebs and sawdust scratching his throat And I knew a child who took axes to coffins with a smile and a shrug and a gleam in her eye when others called out “we can’t” she answered “we can” and loved with a heart a hundred feet tall Copyright 2020 by Adam E. Stone. All rights reserved.
A Life Inside
Nicole Rixon – United Kingdom – 00:06:45Fiction
Thrilled to become a mum Carrie’s confidence is shattered when the pandemic hits. Her excitement and resilience crumble on the maternity unit floor, split apart from her partner, and forced to labour alone with Covid. Her trauma becomes entwined with lockdown and ten months on we see the lasting effects on her and her young family. Written by a first-time mum during lockdown, A Life Inside is inspired by a tapestry of candid first hand accounts. It explores a side to the pandemic that has affected thousands of women, whilst tackling the taboos of shame and guilt surrounding motherhood. Female writer, director and producer team Women in over 50% of all roles in front of and behind the camera An independently funded low budget production that paid everyone a day rate “This is such a powerful film, hard to watch, authentic and deeply moving. A Life Inside highlights how deeply the pandemic affected pregnancy and parenthood for families around the UK.” – Dr Rebecca Moore – Co Founder, Make Birth Better “This moving film brings home very powerfully just how distressing it was for so many women to give birth under pandemic restrictions. It will particularly resonate with women who have birth trauma as a result of that experience.” – Kim Thomas – CEO, The Birth Trauma Association “This is a powerful and impactful film which demonstrates the true reality for many of what it was like to give birth and raise a new baby in the pandemic.” – Francesca Treadaway – Engagement Director, Birthrights
Monkey Business (English version)
Jan Beyen – Belgium – 00:06:16Fiction
Available in 11 languages — For children: a fable with monkeys representing humans: a bad ape causes quarrels between two other tribes in order to obtain their fruit, but the other monkeys see through his plan, forgive him and teach him how to grow fruit. For less innocent spectators : Arms producing countries cause conflicts and this way they force their allies to buy weapons. In the best case the arms are never used, but even then the purchases have an enormous impact on the well being of the population. Can we refuse to be turned against our neighbours ?
Uncut
Mark Hensley – United States – 00:19:00Fiction
After the New Republic Patriot Party seizes control in America , and passes a law requiring all males over 35 to have a vasectomy to keep the number of babies with birth defects down, Jamie decides to flee to Canada on the eve of his 35th birthday.
Occupying the Hulme Hippodrome
Dean Cooper (AKA vj decoder) – United Kingdom – 00:12:06Documentary (Student)
A short film about an old abandoned Music Hall Theatre in Hulme Manchester, I originally just went to photograph the old building which is amazing. But I ended up making this little documentary and spending a lot of time there as I found the recent history of the building just as fascinating as it’s past.
To cut a tree on a green moon
Felipe Esparza – Peru – 00:08:45Documentary
From the diary of Christopher Columbus, October 15, 1492: “And deviated from the land by two lombard shots, there is in all these islands so much depth that one cannot reach it. These islands are very green and fertile and have very sweet airs, and there may be many things that I do not know, because I do not want to stop to go through many islands to find gold”. They had only been on land for four days. The gold never existed. It is only possible to suppose the sweetness of the air. The islands are still green.
What Travelers Are Saying About Jornada del Muerto
Hope Tucker – United States – 00:13:45Documentary
Residents of and visitors to the Tularosa Basin of New Mexico, site of the first detonation of an atomic bomb, contribute to the production of public memory as they offer logistical advice, philosophical reckonings, and plaintive cries about making “the journey of the dead.” Made in remembrance of the 75th anniversary of the detonation of nuclear weapons in Japan and the US and the 340th anniversary of the 1680 Pueblo Revolt. Made in resistance to nuclear colonialism. *video continues after end credits* “Tucker’s way of representing the historical past makes us reconsider what the past historical time should be and what kind of action we should take to commemorate it.” Kim Taein, Curator of Museum of Contemporary Art Busan
Total Disaster
Keil Orion Troisi, Molly Gore – United States – 00:11:28Documentary
Trickster environmental activists pretending to be oil behemoth Total stage a satirical press conference to introduce “RéHabitat,” a plan to rescue animals from the East African Oil Pipeline by relocating them to “more sustainable” habitats in France. Using humor and mischief, they shed light on a deadly ecological and humanitarian disaster.
Dark Cell Harlem Farm
Alexander William McKie Johnston – United States – 00:26:46Documentary
Set against the backdrop of the long history of the Texas prison system–from Juneteenth to Covid–Dark Cell Harlem Farm explores the death by suffocation of eight Black men at a prison plantation in 1913. Combining readings of primary source materials and personal reflections by formerly incarcerated individuals, footage of the prison landscapes where the incident took place, and a series of graphical interventions and excavations, the film makes an urgent and uncompromising argument for the impossibility of prison reform and the necessity of prison abolition.
Hope for Humanity
Adam Neale – United Kingdom – 00:02:18Fiction
We recently created this animation for a short story called ‘Hope for Humanity’, about social change and the importance of treating all sentient beings with respect. This piece mixes the issues of veganism and freedom within a deeper spiritual context which provides a solution for the consequences of humanities fate.
Stockholm Agreement
Tanja Holm – Sweden – 00:20:00Documentary (Student)
A story about the world’s perhaps strangest peace talks. The war has turned Yemen into the greatest humanitarian catastrophe on earth. Five million children risk starvation. The warring parties are taken to Sweden for UN-led negotiations. Everyone hopes that this is the first step towards peace. But chaos surfaces. * And here also a slightly longer synopsis: The war has turned Yemen into one of the greatest disasters on earth. Something has to be done. The United Nations asks Sweden for help. And two delegations from Yemen arrive to the castle outside Stockholm, and begin to negotiate for peace. The world media is also present, as is journalist Manal Alwesabi. She is from Hodeida, a port city at the center of the fighting. A short documentary about a historical week with UN-led peace talks on Yemen, and an agreement that was said to be the beginning of the end of the war.
Dajla: cinema and oblivion
Arturo Dueñas Herrero – Spain – 00:15:00Documentary
Life is going on in Dakhla, one of the Sahrawi refugee camps in southern Algeria, forgotten for 45 years. The celebration of a film festival, the Fisahara, breaks the monotony. The event ends, life (and oblivion) continues.
Just Do It
Antonia Kinlay, Laurence Dobiesz – United Kingdom – 00:12:30Fiction
Mark’s trying to finish his novel but everyone tells him long-form content’s dead. ‘Make a film instead,’ they say. ‘Just do it! Shoot something short. Shoot something funny.’ Mark follows their advice and his film may be short, but no one’s laughing about what he shoots…
The Wheel
Metîn EWR – Turkey – 00:13:42Fiction
In the 1990s, some newspapers were not allowed to enter the Diyarbakir region, under a state of emergency at that time, although they were legal. Children like Bawer and Hebûn, who were part of the distribution group, would secretly collect these newspapers from outside the city at a previously agreed location and take them to the planned meeting place in the city. There, the children changed their clothes and went out to distribute them, under the guise of other work. But they were constantly followed by those who saw the newspaper as dangerous and wanted to prevent its dissemination. Çerx is a testament to the conditions under which these newspapers were distributed to readers and the difficulties encountered.
The Golden Age
– United States – 00:11:05Documentary
An experimental documentary examining the traumatic history of being a woman at work in the animation industry. I put myself into conversation with a generation of women who were not given the opportunity to work in animation or to earn acknowledgement as artists. Each manipulated frame is an ode to the disregarded labor of women, wielded to create films that told young girls to dream.
Night Shifts
Justyna Kabala – United Kingdom – 00:07:28Documentary
The short animated documentary film addresses issues faced by healthcare professionals working night shifts at UK hospitals through a detailed account of a junior doctor’s experience. Accompanied by a rendered animation of a hospital environment, the interview transcript, read by a voice actor, discusses the responsibilities that working for the healthcare sector entails, the effect the work has on the worker’s health and wellbeing, and the broader systemic issues affecting individuals working for the National Healthcare Service today. The 3D architectural visualisation of the hospital was developed based on the interviewee’s descriptions of their work environment. The film was created as a public-facing output of a broader research project conducted in collaboration with researcher Enora Robin and CG animation artist Tom McCaughan. Special thanks to the NHS workers involved in the project.
‘Labour – The Big Lie’
Christopher James Reeves – United Kingdom – 00:30:00Documentary
Platform is making a documentary about the crisis in the Labour Party. The following are the key areas the film will explore. THE “ANTISEMITISM” FURORE The film will tell the story of the “antisemitism” furore which dates from the election of Jeremy Corbyn in 2015. In the 2017 election the party won 30 seats and increased its vote share by 9.6%. In the 2019 election the party was heavily defeated. What part, the film will ask, did the antisemitism furore play in this extraordinary reversal? THE FIFTH COLUMN The film will also look at Labour’s “fifth column” — the party within the party, which included right- wing Labour MPs and many of the the party’s paid officials who together worked to derail the Corbyn project despite Jeremy’s being elected twice as leader. The film will examine how this fifth column operated and how they attempted to undermine and sabotage the work of members on the left and all those who supported Corbyn. THE THREAT TO FREE SPEECH AND DEMOCRACY The film will end by looking at the state of democracy and free speech within the Labour Party. Currently, party members, branches and CLPs who choose to discuss issues of their choice do so under the threat of censure or suspension. The film will explore how this suppression of dissent and the marginalising of voices on the left strikes at the heart of our politics not just in the Labour Party but much more widely. In conclusion the film will ask: how can the party be reformed, and free speech and democracy be renewed? What is the way forward for the Labour Party?
How Do Animals and Plants Live?
Sherry Millner, Ernest Larsen – United States – 00:26:56Documentary
Is it true that translation creates the basis for a new commons? If so, how? The video essay How Do Animals and Plants Live? is an inquiry into the forcible eviction and immediate demolition of the self-organized anarchist-supported migrant squat Orfanotrofeio in Thessaloniki, Greece, in July 2016. An on-site interview with a young West African migrant, detailed exploration of the bulldozed ruins of the old orphanage, and performative translations from a Greek-language children’s schoolbook (How Do Animals and Plants Live?) that the filmmakers found (amid the rubble when they broke into the site)—these elements are all interwoven with strikingly relevant yet unexpected visuals sparked by questions translated directly from the book. Such visuals pointedly wonder: how is this possible? While extrapolating on the assertion that “no one is illegal,” the essay actively yet unobtrusively demonstrates the continuing viability of such anarchist principles as self-organization, autonomy, solidarity, assembly, and direct action, in relation to ongoing migrant struggles, at an historical moment when the status of the refugee has become a global paradigm.
Under the Shadow of the Wall
Taylor Genovese – United States – 00:09:29Documentary
This video essay focuses on the landscapes of the Sonoran Desert—and the project of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico—as a way of investigating the manner in which something as seemingly generic as a wall can take on particular political and affective forms. This short provocation explores the ways that violent and distasteful objects create, and subsequently come to characterize, malevolent spectacles.
Saturation
Lucija Bužančić – Croatia – 00:09:48Fiction
Something grew out of the cracks and walls and occupied all the empty spaces in a little Mediterranean city. This short film is about the gentrification of a place that has recently become a real archeological site thanks to severe turistification.
Embers of War
TING TU – China – 00:13:07Fiction (Student)
In 1940, a soldier sacrificed in the Chongqing Bombing of China. His wife could not accept his death and imagined the scene before he left home. This is a story talking about the impact of war on a family from one side. In 2019, the survivors of the Chongqing Bombing are now elderly, some of whom still have bomb shrapnel in heads, scars on bodies and ,most importantly, psychological trauma in minds. They hold annual memorial meetings to commemorate their dead compatriots, go to Japan to sue and so on. After all is said and done, they still remember the war. Despite of the pain in the heart, they live with hope and try to pass on to future generations the idea of cherishing peace. By creating a dialogue across time and space and using the combination of a short film and a documentary, this work wants to trauma of war left for those people at that time and hopes the world will remember history and cherish peace.
The Outlanders – from HKG to SEA
Azure Kwok – United States – 00:11:36Documentary (Student)
After the 2019 Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement in Hong Kong, a young Hongkonger chose to leave her hometown and made her way to Seattle. She talks about how this decision marked a pivotal turning point in her life.
The Traditional Brazilian Family KATU
RODRIGO SENA – Not Specified – 00:25:00Documentary
Produced in the year 2007, a photographic essay realized in recognition of the indigenous roots, portrayed twelve adolescents belonging to Eleutério do katu, RN Brasil. Twelve years later the photographer returns to katu in search of these protagonists, now adults, to know about his personal trajectories and his world views.
Semi-Finalists
The Parable of the Leaf Blower
Rachel Ara – Jersey – 00:11:00Fiction
A slow, thoughtful and meditative animation with no spoken word by the internationally renowned sculptor Rachel Ara. The film uses leaves as a metaphor for the cycles and rhythms of life. The rake and / or leaf blower symbolise our chosen approach . The film asks us to slow down. It is a time to think for ourselves and reflect on women’s roles, the environment and our approach to life.
Terror Fervor
Phoebe Parsons – Canada – 00:06:00Fiction
Informed by experimental films from the 1960s and 70s, Terror Fervor takes the viewer on a psychedelic non-linear journey through the vices of seven characters. The wordless journey of Terror Fervor plunges the viewer into an experience that is hard to classify and hard to forget.
Eli Nazik
Mehmet Tığlı РTurkey Р00:07:51Fiction
Eli Nazik is a short film which was shot on smart phone. Eli Nazik is a delicious Turkish dish. It also means ‘gentle hand’. Saliha lives in a poor district, shoots food recipe videos with her daughter Derya and posts them on their social media channel called “Mother and Daughter”. On all of these videos that they shoot for money, hidden from her husband, Saliha’s hands are to be seen only. During the shoots of the “Eli Nazik” video, her husband comes home from the village before the expected time, and the tragic truths get revealed.
Teacher of Patience
Carmen Vincent – United States – 00:28:22Documentary
Over 20 years after Emily Felter is diagnosed with Down syndrome, paramedic (and Emily’s father) Tom develops a presentation to share her story with other first responders. As the Felters work to raise disability awareness, they come face-to-face with the struggles and joys of their daily lives.‚Äã Press Kit: https://www.teacherofpatience.com/press-kit.html Captions and audio descriptions are available for the entire film. Please see our files & attachments section for a digital press kit, which includes a trailer, stills, and much more.
2336
Yousra Ahrram, Rania Assadi, Sadok Derbali, Shanna Lefebvre, Kenzo Lernould, Adam Saouti – France – 00:13:00Young Film (Made by filmmakers under 18)
Synopsis: This short film follows a group of young people living in hiding, addressing issues such as surveillance, facial recognition and the right to privacy. In 2020-2021, Kendra McLaughlin and Felipe Esparza worked on a workshop to produce a short film with two classes from the Pierre Mendès high school in Tourcoing. From writing to shooting, the students were actors, cameramen, sound and lighting technicians, and were able to discover the different stages of filmmaking. Through a collective writing process, the school hallways were transformed into post-apocalyptic environments of the future (in the years 2336 and 2337, to be exact).
2337
Mathis MARQUETTE, Noam MIECZNIK, Romain HENNEBELLE, Aaron TARTARE, Nicolas VANBERGUE, Sylvain POPIEUL – France – 00:14:00Young Film (Made by filmmakers under 18)
Synopsis: This short film examines how transhumanism and electronic recycling intersect, based on testimonies from workers and robots. Using the tools of science fiction and improvisation, the diptych reveals the links between our collective imaginations of the future(s) and the reality of a group of young people today. In 2020-2021, Kendra McLaughlin and Felipe Esparza worked on a workshop to produce a short film with two classes from the Pierre Mendès high school in Tourcoing. From writing to shooting, the students were actors, cameramen, sound and lighting technicians, and were able to discover the different stages of filmmaking. Through a collective writing process, the school hallways were transformed into post-apocalyptic environments of the future (in the years 2336 and 2337, to be exact).
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The Girl From Gaza
Nicolas Aujula – Jordan – 00:20:00Documentary
For over a decade the ongoing conflict in Palestine has wrought havoc on Mariam‚Äôs life, who with her mother Bara’ah in Gaza is constantly ‘fighting for her future against Israeli occupation, bombs and patriarchal rules’ while feeling like life is spiralling out of control. Despite living in an open air prison, Mariam finds focus through Taekwondo and education. Many girls in Gaza get the opportunity to study abroad yet the majority never make it out – will Mariam’s dream of a scholarship be her ticket to freedom?
Yellow Polka Dot
Tin Nguyen – United States – 00:17:40Fiction
Sandra and Barbara are enjoying a day at the beach with their partners in 1962. The night before they all went out to a night club. The men bonded, as well as the women, albeit in very different fashions. https://vimeo.com/657911904 Password: YellowPolkaDot21
Blue Eyes
Peter Gould – United Kingdom – 00:08:18Fiction
Jenny is a train driver. One day during a routine journey a young woman jumps in front of her train, killing herself instantly. Jenny is traumatised. Everyone tells her it wasn’t her fault, and she must put it out of her mind. But she can’t erase the image of the woman. She had blue eyes.
A Day in Arada
Marco Di Nunzio – Italy – 00:17:07Documentary
Arada is not only the old city centre of Addis Ababa. In the slang of the streets of Addis Ababa, being Arada means being smart and cool. Since the 1960s, sex workers, intellectuals and street hustlers engaged with ideas of “Arada” to describe themselves and make sense of their lives in the city. Combining still-image cinematography and participatory storytelling , “A Day in Arada” narrates the struggles of being an Arada and what is to achieve respect and recognition in the midst of exclusion.
Grandpa Ernest Speaks
Madeleine Bazil – South Africa – 00:29:22Documentary (Student)
In 1939, a young Jewish man named Ernest Lowy makes a bold and narrow escape from his native Czechoslovakia, seeking safety and opportunity for his family as World War II intensifies. In the late 1980s, an elderly Ernest recounts his life story over the course of a 75-minute cassette tape at home in New York City. It’s the first and only time his children and grandchildren hear him speak of the Holocaust, or of his life before immigrating to the US. Another three decades later, filmmaker Madeleine Bazil decides to finally do something with the audio memoir of the late great-grandfather she never knew. We follow Bazil over three years as she charts a journey to retrace Ernest’s steps across two continents: investigating the man himself, as well as how Ernest’s life story and the trauma he underwent have a ripple effect on present-day family dynamics. Collaging together a multiplicity of testimonies, archival artefacts, and perspectives, the documentary exemplifies the fragmented nonlinearity of memory as well as reflects the complexities and layers of our own individual identities. A 29’ poetic and self-reflexive documentary, Grandpa Ernest Speaks considers the nature of posttraumatic memory; how it is transmitted, archived and witnessed; and how each generation and descendant carries and considers memory in their own way.
The Virus Cross Country: a poetic chronicle (with codas)
Pamela Falkenberg, Jack Cochran – United States – 00:21:28Documentary
In early March 2020, Jack started writing a poem about the pandemic, just as the lockdown started in the US. While practicing social distancing, we turned his poetic chronicle into a film as we travelled between our homes in Austin, TX, and Rockford, IL, and doom scrolled the COVID-19 news on the internet, social media, and our neighborhood apps. We thought Jack’s poem was finished when Texas and Illinois opened back up in late May/early June 2020, but we soon realized we needed him to write a coda, and we continued to film during the Black Lives Matters protests, the resurgence of the virus, and the dangerous use of federal forces in American cities. We can‚Äôt foresee how all this will end, but we have already had to add more codas, taking our chronicle through the unthinkable Jan. 6 storming of the US Capitol by right wing insurrectionists in the aftermath of Donald Trump‚Äôs failure to accept his loss in the 2020 Presidential election. More codas may still be in the offing, as new variants continue to emerge and Covid craziness takes even more bizarre forms. Whatever happens, we imagine the timeline we trace will be even more chilling to comprehend in retrospect.
Water and more water
Francesca Svampa – Spain – 00:06:12Documentary
A dreamlike portrait of Barcelona, shot in double exposure on reversible 8mm film, is interwoven with an intimate “I remember” voice, creating a collage of memories à la Brainard and Pérec. The director’s personal micro-memories, as a woman, filmmaker and immigrant, evoque the spirit of a time that may never return, constructing a communal heritage. The act of making this film, involving the haphazardous double exposure and the fragility of the physical film itself, becomes a metaphor for the perpetual tension between memory and oblivion.
Home is where the scars are from
Mathias Seebacher – Austria – 00:29:22Fiction
Andi is a “squatter“ – he is part of a group that occupies buildings in Vienna. He considers them as family. One night, out of a misery, his sister seeks refuge with her little son in the squat. The following days Andi has to act as an unconventional kindergartener for his nephew. It intensifies the relationship to his sister which brings to light some of their shared past.
Discarnate: McLuhan’s Wake
Gordon David Pepper – Canada – 00:16:45Documentary
This experimental documentary film explores the unique personality and intellectual brilliance of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan, including his uncanny predictions regarding the effects of communication technologies on culture and society.
Turn Over
TING TU – United Kingdom – 00:11:00Fiction (Student)
A poor homeless man knows there is a lot of food in an art gallery. He sneaks into the art gallery because he is hungry. He eats a lot of cake and then falls asleep in this warm gallery by accident. He lies flat on the floor. He is considered as a performance art by rich people. When the homeless man wakes up, people clap and shake his hand. He knows what has happened through those people’s actions. He knows it would be a life-changing moment. At this moment, he decides to pretend to be an artist. It presents a comedic allegory about modern art and a trenchant satire of the disparity between the rich and the poor. It is a comic allegory of modern art and a sharp satire of capitalist class differences.